Love in the Two Tragedies: William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet and Hamlet.
Two among the famous works of Shakespeare are Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet. And in both of these works, love is portrayed in different ways. Romeo and Juliet disregarded their obstacles and pursued their love until their death while Hamlet and Ophelia allowed family circumstances to affect their relationship.
Both couples encountered problems that involved each one's family affecting each couple's relationship. In Romeo and Juliet, even before the play begins, the conflict between the families of the Capulets and the Montagues is expressed in the prologue:
Two households, both alike in dignity
(In fair Verona, where we lay our scene),
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. (PRO.1-4)
This hatred or conflict between the families is so great that everyone except the people in the house of Montagues is invited to join the party that the Capulets are having:
Now I'll tell you without asking. My
master is the great rich Capulet, and, if you be not
of the house of Montagues, I pray come and crush a
cup of wine. Rest you merry. (1.2.85-88)
While in Hamlet, Polonius orders Ophelia not to see or even talk with Hamlet anymore:
In few, Ophelia,
Do not believe his vows, for they are brokers,
Not of that dye which their investments show,
But mere implorators of unholy suits,
Breathing like sanctified and pious bawds
The better to beguile. This is for all:
I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth
Have you so slander any moment leisure
As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet.
Look to't, I charge you. Come your ways. (1.3.135-144)
And Ophelia quickly replies with, "I shall obey, my lord." (1.3.145). And with that, Hamlet and Ophelia's relationship as a couple is ended.
Though Romeo and Juliet's so-called love story only took a few days, many great events happened including the tragic end, which was the death of the lovers. Romeo and Juliet first met when Romeo and his friends decided to attend the
Both couples encountered problems that involved each one's family affecting each couple's relationship. In Romeo and Juliet, even before the play begins, the conflict between the families of the Capulets and the Montagues is expressed in the prologue:
Two households, both alike in dignity
(In fair Verona, where we lay our scene),
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. (PRO.1-4)
This hatred or conflict between the families is so great that everyone except the people in the house of Montagues is invited to join the party that the Capulets are having:
Now I'll tell you without asking. My
master is the great rich Capulet, and, if you be not
of the house of Montagues, I pray come and crush a
cup of wine. Rest you merry. (1.2.85-88)
While in Hamlet, Polonius orders Ophelia not to see or even talk with Hamlet anymore:
In few, Ophelia,
Do not believe his vows, for they are brokers,
Not of that dye which their investments show,
But mere implorators of unholy suits,
Breathing like sanctified and pious bawds
The better to beguile. This is for all:
I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth
Have you so slander any moment leisure
As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet.
Look to't, I charge you. Come your ways. (1.3.135-144)
And Ophelia quickly replies with, "I shall obey, my lord." (1.3.145). And with that, Hamlet and Ophelia's relationship as a couple is ended.
Though Romeo and Juliet's so-called love story only took a few days, many great events happened including the tragic end, which was the death of the lovers. Romeo and Juliet first met when Romeo and his friends decided to attend the